Apparatus for and method of cultivating and improving the hearing



May 19, 1931. w, MacDONALD 1,806,357

APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF CULTIVATING AND IMPROVING THE HEARING Filed June 17, 1929 INVENTOR.

A TTORNEYS W. may

Patented May 19, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOEL W. MACDONALD, OF HOUSTON, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR TO THE TACTIPHONE COM'PANY, OF HOUSTON, TEXAS, A CORPORATION OF TEXAS APPARATUS FOR AND METHOD OF CULTIVATING AND IMPROVING THE HEARING Application filed June 17,

| persons under special conditions.

There have been developed a great many devices for testing the hearing of the partially deaf and for enabling the partially deaf to hear to a limited extent. These 19 devices have in general followed two trends.

The one trend is to place an. ear phone over the ear, or some equivalent device which will cause a considerable vibration in the air columns leading to the inner ear. In some cases this has favorably resulted in enabling the persons to hear to a certain extent as long as they were using the device. In the great majority of cases however it did not result in any permanent improvement of the persons hearing and in fact in some cases acted to gradually lessen the sense of hearing which the erson originally had.

There have een other devices adapted to produce vibration in some parts of the body, such as the dentiphones for the teeth and other devices on the bones of other portions of the body, such as the hands and arms, etc. In general these devices have been merely for testing the hearing as they are not found practical for the purpose of enabling the person to distinguish words. These devices and this method like the aforesaid method did not in general result in any permanent improvement in the hearing of the person treated.

I have invented a method of and a means for cultivating and improving the hearing of deaf persons and for enabling persons of normal hearing to hear better under peculiar circumstances. The latter case is particularly applicable in enabling people of substantially normal hearing to hear sound to the exclusion of extraneous noises. This will be particularly applicable for radio and telegraph operators, railway employees, and in fact may be utilized in many industries where there is a great confusion of. noise to the end that the persons using my device will be able to hear readily without being bothered 1929. Serial No. 371,557.

by the high noise level of locally current sounds.

The sense of hearing is apparently rather a complex one. In normal hearing the vibration of the air from the column leading from the outer to the inner ear is registered in some fashion on the nerves of the inner ear to produce the sensation of sound having pitch, modulation, amplification, etc. The normal condition with the deaf and partially deaf is that for some reason the ear vibration fails to register adequately in the normal fashion.

In my previous application Serial No. 316,590 I have disclosed a method of and a means for enabling these deaf people to hear. This invention is an improvement upon said former application and will be described in particular hereafter.

In order to enable others to understand and practice my invention I have constructed certain drawings to accompany the following disclosure and claims.

Figure 1 is a plan view of one form which my invention may take.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the lines 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a detail showing of the diaphragm and certain supporting legs as used herewith.

Figure 4 is an illustration showing how my invention may be applied over the ear of the person using the same.

' I have found that when a rigid vibrating element making contact with the mastoid eminence at the rear of the ear is actuated synchronously with a diaphragm causin air vibrations in the air column leading rom theouter to the inner ear the hearing of the deaf and partially deaf is improved in a very surprising fashion, and very frequently results in the permanent improvement of the hearing of the person treated by my method.

Furthermore I have found that when the air column of the ear is thus actuated in synchronism with the vibration of the bony structure of the ear that persons of normal hearing are enabled to hear with surprising clearness, despite any extraneous noises resulting in the high noise level around them.

The method by which extraneous noises are excluded will be made apparent by a consideration of the apparatus disclosed.

Figure 1 is a view looking into my device from the open side and the nature of the invention may be more readily understood by consideration of Figure 2.

As shown in Figure 2 my device consists essentially of a phone 1 having an extended cup shaped cap 2 for fitting around the ear and excluding the entrance of sound waves from without, a vibrating diaphragm 3 and two vibrating elements 4 and 5. One of these vibrating elements 4 may be an are shaped contact member designed to comfortably contact with the mastoid eminence just back of the external ear. The other vibrating ele-- ment 5 contacts just in front of the ear preferably in the templar depression in front of and just below the top of the outer ear.

Figure 3 shows a diaphragm 3 having four attachments 6 which may if desired be parts of a spider connecting with contact members similar to 4 and 5. It is of course understood that many variations may be made in themannen in which the contact members are actuated andit is also to be understood that the distance where the contact of the members giving the vibration to the contact members 4 and 5 is made from each of he diaphragms may be varied to suit conditions.

Figure 4 is a view of an ear showing approximately the places 4 and 5 where the contact members 4 and 5 may. touch the head of the person using the device and showing where the cup like member 2 fits around the ear to exclude extraneous noises.

The cup like cap 2 may if desired be made of resilient material in such a fashion that it will hold itself against the head around the ear so as to comfortably support the weight of the other portions of the device. It may be made to act as a suction device as a whole or it may have small suction devices if desired. It is not absolutely essential however that it be held on to the ear by suction, as various means such as head bands may be used when desired.

In the preferred form the vibrating elements 4 and 5 should be rigidly attached to the outer portion of the diaphragm 3 so that the vibration these elements receive will be synchronous with the vibration of the diaphragm but will be of greater force and lesser amplitude.

When a person of normal hearing fits this form of the device over his ear extraneous touch along with the normal hearin function. This will accentuate and cultlvate a hearing habit beyond the normal hearing capacity.

When deaf or partially deaf persons use my device the vibration of the vibratory members will affect the afferent nerves in the skin with which it contacts and in the bony structure beneath the skin with which the bones containing the inner car are conjoined.

By having the air column actuated in synchronism with this sensation produced in the afferent nerves the sensations functioning in normal hearing are gradually trained and sensitized where such is physiologically possible, so that the person develops a great sensitivity to normal ear vibration and the ability to recognize and understand soundsof various characters is developed and rendered more acute. In the use of this device it is intended that it may be varied to suit individual cases of deafness so as to produce the maximum desired result.

In certain cases it will be found that superior results are obtained where the ratio of air vibration to bone vibration is a certain value, while in other cases other ratios may be found preferable. Likewise it has been found that the ratio of these vibrations as well as the amplitude of the vibrations should be varied both for various pitches of sound to be received as well as for various qualities. This is particularly true in cases of selective deafness, and in this case it will often be advantageous to have the phone preceded by some means of controlling either automatically or by manual control the strength of the various vibrations to fit special conditions and for various patients.

In treating any individual case of deafness it has been found that it may most advantageously be done by studying the nature of the deafness and the peculiarities of the individual. It will usually be found advantageous to form the vibrating element 4 and in some cases likewise the element 5 by taking a cast of this region of the head of the patient to be treated and making this vibrating element to fit most securely and comfortably the contours of the individual head. The cap too may be varied to suit the particular person for which it is adapted.

It has likewise been found that the strength and nature of the two elements and of the diaphragm may be fitted to the individuals particular case to secure maximum results. This is of particular importance where the ob ject is to produce a gradual correction of the conditions of hearing of the patient and also where the deafness is of the selective pitch type, in which latter case the amplifier or head set may if desired be suited to the person so as to produce the strongest vibrations in the pitches to which the person may be most insensitive.

The actual physical changes which may be caused by the use of my device are not completely known but it has been thoroughly established that the results are very favorable in most cases as regards the permanent improvement of the patient treated, and I do not wish therefore to limit myself to any of the theories hereby expounded but wish only to be limited by the scope of the appended claims. I

I claim:

1. A method for improving the hearing which comprises vibration in the air column leading to the inner ear synchronously with vibration positively affecting the mastoid eminence behind the ear.

2. An apparatus for improving the hearing comprising a diaphragm, a member making contact with the mastoid eminence, and means actuating the said diaphragm and the said diaphragm member.

3. An ear phone containing a dia hragm, a member making contact with the s in over the mastoid eminence, and means actuating said dia hragm and said member making contact Wit the mastoid eminence.

4. An ear phone comprising a diaphragm, means acting near the center of said diaphragm to cause the same to vibrate at sound frequencies, and means rigidly attached to the diaphragm near an edge thereof extending to a member making contact with the mastoid eminence back of the ear.

5. An ear phone as in claim 4 having a cup surrounding the entire mechanism and outer ear.

6. A method for improving the hearing comprising causing sound vibrations in the air column leading to the inner 'ear synchronously with the vibration of the bony structure supporting the inner ear.

7. An ear phone containing a diaphragm,

" a pair ofspaced members carried by the diaphragm and making contact with the skin immediately in front of and behind the ear respectively, and means actuating said diaphragm and said members.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

J OEL W. MACDONALD. 

